It has been an immense privilege to have carried out a series of surveys for The Crown Estate, owner of this historic castle on the north bank of the Thames in London. It is a World Heritage property and therefore its maintenance and preservation is trusted only to suitably trusted and qualified companies.
Here are two examples.
Martin Tower
We were instructed by Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) to survey a timber-framed sash window in the Martin Tower, which is at the north east corner of the castle and is actually a series of structures. They were aware that the window was in need to attention and a decision had to be made to repair or replace. HRP recognised that the most cost effective (and least disruptive) way to ascertain the way forward for the window was to access the window via rope.
We rigged the ropes, over the tower, the day before the survey, then we were ready to go less than 24 hours later. We were on site very early in the morning, well before the hordes of tourists had arrived, so it was safe to ascend from ground level, inspect the window at close quarters, descend, pack up and report.
Unfortunately, the window was in poor condition and had to be replaced, as we detailed in our report. The replacement was organised by the Tower of London’s on-site maintenance team via a cherry picker.
White Tower
The White Tower is perhaps the most famous castle keep in the world. Here we were asked to carry out an internal window survey – a survey of several massive, sliding sash windows in fact. The issue the Tower was having was excessive heat so we were tasked to install a rope pulley system so that the White Tower’s staff could open the windows from ground level.
We created a trial pulley system and HRP were delighted with it. Although the windows only open by 100mm, it’s enough to keep the area in question well ventilated and much more comfortable for the tourists.
